Union Movement Rallies Around CWA, IBEW Members at Verizon

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/07/27/union-movement-rallies-around-cwa-ibew-members-in-verizon-talks

by Mike Hall, Jul 27, 2008

A series of “rolling” rallies is building solidarity for 70,000 Communications Workers of America members and 15,000 Electrical Workers whose contract with Verizon East expires Aug. 2. Local AFL-CIO labor councils and state federations have pitched their support to the Verizon workers in the Northeast.



Contact talks are under way, and earlier this month members of both unions voted to authorize a strike if a fair agreement isn’t reached. Says CWA President Larry Cohen:

We hope to achieve a fair settlement, but this demonstrates our members’ solid support for their bargaining teams and their own strong determination to achieve a fair settlement with Verizon.

Yesterday, more than 1,000 CWA and IBEW members and supporters from New York City Central Labor Council unions rallied at Verizon’s corporate headquarters in New York City. On Thursday in Providence, R.I., nearly 100 Verizon workers, community activists, union members and leaders from the from Rhode Island AFL-CIO rallied near a major Verizon facility.

In Massachusetts other “rolling” rallies have taken place in Brockton, Danvers, Springfield and Woburn. A final rally is set for July 31 in front of Verizon’s Boston headquarters. For more information, click here.

The unions are working hard to preserve the quality wages and benefits that telecom workers have achieved through 35 years of collective bargaining, but they are also keeping their eye on the future of the industry. As Verizon transitions from a traditional phone company to a high-tech provider of video, Internet and wireless communications, workers are fighting for the union jobs of the future.

Myles Calvey, business manager for IBEW Local 2222 and chair of the IBEW Telephone Workers’ Bargaining Committee, said in a message to members that in the weeks leading up to the contract expiration, management has finally started to pay attention to workers’ concerns. Stressing the importance of the show of solidarity, he said:

The main reason management has been forced to deal with our issues is because the membership has shown them that we are united and determined to win yet another contract that takes us into the future.